Is This My New T.V?

It's a little late, but this video is really funny.

Wakefield's Return

I (along with many Sox fans) am extremely excited for tonight’s game, the reason being Wakefield is back! 11-3 record before the all star break (an an all star for the first time) Wakefield was the most dependable pitcher in the first half of the season and his return couldn’t have been at a better time. Hopefully Wakefield can pitch like he did before and help a rotation that badly needs another quality starter. So far the Sox have a 1 ½ game lead over the Rangers in the Wild card and trail 6 games in the AL East. It’s weird I was actually cheering for the Yankees to win, I mean face it there is no way the Sox can win the division (unless there is an impressive flip between them and the Yankees) but they defiantly have a shot at the WC so the Yankees better beat the Rangers. Anyway with the return of Wakefield and the awaited return of Dice-K I hope the rotation will be as good as I hoped for the rest of the season. GO RED SOX!

The Most Important Commandment

I was reading Mark and came across a passage, in it someone asks Jesus which is the most important commandment, Jesus said it is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 12: 30 and the second commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself” 12: 31. The man who asked Jesus agreed with Him saying it is “more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices” 12: 33, Jesus replies saying he is “not far from the kingdom of God” 12: 34. That struck me, and even though it is a simple passage I often read with little thought given to it I stopped and thought to myself “Wow, so it is more important to God that we 1) love Him and pursue Him before anything else and 2) love each other as ourselves, than any sacrifice we make.” Nowadays we don’t see many people making burnt offerings, but let’s use the word sacrifice as a modern term, so it’s as if God said to me He would be happier that I love Him and love others than give up baseball. Think about it, when we make a sacrifice it is a painful thing, not playing baseball would be like losing an arm for me, but when we love God and put Him first we naturally take the emphasis away from those things, in the action of loving God we become more like Him and make sacrifices in our lives! What would be better for me to give up baseball or love God so much that I 1) become like Him 2) drop sinful habits that inhibit my ability to be like Him and 3) love Him so much that even a simple thing like playing baseball becomes an act of worship. As for loving our neighbor, God loves all of us and made us and wants us to love each other, think how much it pains Him to see us fight. When we love each other as ourselves we lose that selfishness and become (once again) more like God, we take on His character which is why Jesus died, so that we can do that. Basically Jesus is saying “I don’t want you to give stuff up just to say you are unselfish and you love me, I want you to love me and change for the better because of that and become more like me”.

Red Sox Report

Wow what a game last night! I was very fortunate to be able to go with my uncle and cousin and boy was I surprised. Who would have thought, on the way there I said “So, Burnett vs. Tazawa, gee I wonder who will win” and then 9 innings and 14 runs later the Sox finally ended the 5 game losing streak against the Yankees. Tonight it’s Beckett vs. Sabathia, two aces fighting for 15 wins, this will definitely be a very interesting game and with the way the Sox have been hitting (6 + runs in the past 5) I’m hoping the outcome will be good. Also, I took a ton of pictures so I’ll post my favorites later.

Who's in the Center?

I was helping out at the VBS at my church and while I waited for my dad to pick me up I sat down and saw a book on the table next to me. It was a thin book so I decided I read a little while I waited, I don’t remember much but what I do know that it had to do with the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son (if you want to read the parable it’s in Luke 15: 11 – 31) I am not going to give a full analysis because what this parable deserves could take weeks of posts (and very long posts at that), what I will are two thoughts I had. This parable is one of the three “lost” stories Jesus told, one is about a sheep another a coin, and then the son. In one I believe Jesus show’s God’s care and love as a shepherd, another our immense value to God and the third is a story more about us. There is the father (God) the elder son and the younger son who represents two groups of people (more on this some other time), I am going to write a little about the younger son. The younger son demands his share of his father’s wealth and runs off to spend it, he wastes it on parties and fair-weather friends only to find he lost it all. Soon he hits rock bottom when a famine comes and as he finds himself wishing he could eat the food that the pigs he was taking care of were eating he says “Geez, my dad’s servants have it better than this, see ya pigs I’m going home.” And then he and his father run toward each other and there is a big party and his brother is angry (more on this later). I think that the younger son tells us something about ourselves, the only thing in the world that will truly make us happy is God, and everything done apart from God will never satisfy us. The son was only truly happy when he ran into his father’s embrace; I think that we should do the same. I could wake up and have the life of my dreams but if that life didn’t include God then it would be more of a nightmare. Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” Psalm 127: 1-2. God has incredible plans for each of us, we just have to run to Him and accept them.

Lot's more Posts

I'm going to have a lot of more posts on faith coming up, I'm not out of this struggle yet, I'm more in the beginning of it. I just hope that God will lead me out, I've got a ton of new ideas but I don't want to give it all away. Warning: these posts are basically my own thinking and most likely I'm writing and thinking at the same time so that means they will be jumbled. Also the Red Sox STINK! Bowden, more like BUMden, geez I'd rather have Penny pitch all nine innings! All this talk and nothing but a nine run disappointment!

Go Sox

Looking back on the season, and how Ortiz had a depressing start and bounced back, I don't care if he took steroids or not he is proving himself to be the great hitter we thought he was. Although a .220 avg. isn't all that great (actually it's downright bad), 18 homeruns ranks up there with some of the better hitters in the league (he ranks 3rd so far in the season). Steroids or no steroids David Ortiz is hitting much better than I origionally thoguht (remember the poll) and may get around 25 homeruns this year (who knows maybe more). Let's see if they can get a win tonight!